The Seed Group, a group of diversified companies owned and chaired by the Private Office of Sheikh Saeed Bin Ahmed Al Maktoum, has signed up for a pilot programme with Dubai-based Jibrel Network to develop new cryptocurrency jCash in the UAE.

The cryptocurrency is designed to be a decentralised means of storing and transferring traditional financial assets on the Ethereum blockchain.

jCash allows individuals and institutions to tokenise their assets while also operating within existing financial regulations and real-world rules.

The new partnership will utilise a network of licensed financial institutions to bring institutional-grade liquidity to the blockchain. If successful, it is hoped that jCash will provide smart contract technology to facilitate everyday transactions such as mortgage payments and property ownership transfers.

“Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan’s vision of having Dubai the blockchain capital of the world by 2020 created a wave of public and private sector initiatives focused on blockchain adoption,” said Yazan Barghuthi, CEO and co-founder of the Jibrel Sheikh Network.

“This will pay-off handsomely in the future as it will help Dubai cement its position as a leader in the evolution of Web 3.0 and distributed ledger technology.”

Is self-regulation on the horizon?

The Winklevoss twins, two of the prime movers behind the birth of Bitcoin and who now preside over the Gemini exchange, are proposing the cryptocurrency world self-regulate in an attempt to clean up the image of digital assets.

Their proposal for the establishment of a Virtual Commodity Association has already found support from a senior US government official, Brian Quintenz, the commissioner of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, who backed the idea during a speech at the DC Blockchain Summit on Tuesday.

“Ultimately, a virtual commodity self-regulatory organisation [SRO] that has the most independence from its membership, the most diversity of views, and the strongest ability to discover, reveal, and punish wrongdoing will add the most integrity to these markets,” he said.

“I encourage Gemini or any other market participant… to be aggressive in promoting these qualities within any SRO construct.”

“We believe adding an additional layer of oversight on virtual commodity cash markets, in the form of self-regulation, is important for consumer protection and to ensure the integrity of these markets,” the Winklevosses wrote in a blogpost outlining the idea.

Pumping the Petro

According to Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, the country’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro, has raised more than $5bn in its pre-sale period – with 83,000 individuals from 127 countries sinking money into the new asset.

The Petro was made available for purchase during its presale on February 20 as a means of raising revenue for the country and bypassing the current sanctions regime.

However, the Weiss ratings agency issued a report last week that said there has been zero movement into the asset’s stated address – and slammed it as worthless.

Vermont real estate deals done in Ethereum

A pilot program in South Burlington, Vermont has utilised blockchain technology to record the transfer of a title deed in a real estate purchase. Instead of the city’s traditional recording system, the details have been confirmed by an Ethereum-based smart-contract.

The pilot programme was revealed in January in a partnership between blockchain real estate marketplace Propy Inc and the city clerk’s Office of South Burlington.

“The Propy pilot will showcase the savings of blockchain distributed technology, furthering Vermont’s and the City of South Burlington’s goal to achieve more cost-effective government,” said Natalia Karayaneva, CEO of Propy, in a statement.